Credibility of Communicators and Distraction as Predictors of Change in Attitude

Abstract

Earlier research suggests that communicators' credibility and distraction interact such that maximal change in attitude occurs when the communicator is highly credible and receivers are distracted from the persuasive message. Because conceptual and operational flaws appear in the earlier research this study provided a replication and refinement using 377 subjects. Contrary to previous research, nondistracted subjects showed more change in attitude than distracted subjects. Moreover, the peer source in the distracting condition showed the least change of any cell in the design. These findings are discussed in terms of their impact on a large body of research making assumptions unsupported by these data.